Guard for open railway-cars.



' PATENTED JUNE 5, 1906.

E. W. WHEELOGK. GUARD FOR OPEN RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1905.

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@Zsd. 6. 9m W UNITED STATES PATENT GUARD FOR OPEN RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 5, 1906.

Application filed July 31,1905. Serial No. 272,100.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that I, ETTA W. WHnELooK, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Milton, in the county of Norfolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guards for Open Railway-Cars, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements on the guard for open railway-cars for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 563,209, dated June 30, 1896, were granted to me (formerly Etta W. Phinney) and Elmer E. Adams, and has for its object to improve the construction of the device de scribed in said patent, whereby it is simplified, more easily operated, and better adapted for practical use.

With these ends in view my invention consists in suspending or hanging the longitudinal guard-rails, which are applied to the sides of the car by means of cords provided with counterpoise-weights, whereby said guard-rails are balanced, so that they can be raised or lowered with a minimum expenditure of force and will remain in any position in which they may be left, all liability of injury from the falling of the rail from a raised position by careless handling being thereby entirely avoided, said guardrails being guided between the osts of the car and offset guide-rods, said guide-rods being placed upon the outside of the posts and forming handles.

The invention further consists in the coinbination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification, and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of an open railway-car having my improved guard applied thereto, portions of the mechanism being broken away to better show the construction. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

In the said drawings, A represents the body of an open railway-car of ordinary construction, B the side posts thereof, and C the seats. To the outer side of each of the posts B on each side of the car is secured a guiderod 10, which is offset at the upper and lower ends where it is bolted to the post, leaving a space 14:, Fig. 2, through which passes, on each side of the car, a long guard-rail D, which may be composed of Wood or any other suitable material and of any desired shape in cross-section. This rail D extends longitudinally along the side of the car, as shown in Fig. 1, and is capable of being freely moved up and down within the spaces 14, the vertical rods 10 on one side and the posts B on the other side serving as guides to keep the rail in place during such. movements, and suitable stops 20 being provided for the rail to rest upon when drawn down. To the opposite ends of the guard-rail are secured, by means of eyes 15 or in any other suitable manner, suspending-cords 16, which pass over pulleys 17, placed at the top of the car and are provided at their free ends with suitable counterpoise-weights 18, which are preferably inclosed within tubular guides 19, secured to the adjacent end posts or other suitable portions of the car, said weights serving to balance the guard-rail, so that it can be raised and lowered with a minimum expenditure of force, thereby enabling it to be operated by the conductor of the car or other authorized person, and also causing it to remain in any raised position in which it may be left without the employment of catches or other fastening devices, thereby avoidingall possibility of accident or injury from the falling of the guard-rail from an elevated position by the careless handling of an employee or other person.

hen the rail D is drawn down to serve as a guard to prevent egress from that side of the car, it may, if desired, be locked by means of any suitable device under the control of the conductor or other official, thereby preventing it from being raised by the occupant of a seat. The tubular weight-guides 19 form stops for the ends of the guard-rail to prevent any swinging movement of the same in the direction of its length.

It will be obvious that the above-described device can be conveniently and cheaply applied to cars already in use without interfering with the ordinary attachments usually applied thereto.

In practical operation when a car is started from the end of its route the guard-rail D 011 the side next to the adjacent track is lowered, or both rails may be lowered, if desired, when circumstances demand it, thereby preventing passengers from leaving the car until the rail or rails are raised and affording ample protection against accidents caused by persons getting on or off from the wrong side of the car. The rods 10, which are secured to the posts B, besides serving as guides for the guard-rail D, also form handles to be grasped by the hands in getting on or off the car, said rods extending downwardly beyond the stops 20 and being fastened at their lower ends to the posts B by suitable brackets 21, so that a certain portion of the rods may be grasped by the person getting onto the carviz., that portion which extends from the stop to the bracket 21without any danger of the guard-rail D striking the hand of said person when being raised or lowered and resulting in an accident. I

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A guard for open railway-cars comprising a vertically-movable guard-rail extend ing longitudinally along the side of the car, adjacent to the posts thereof, guides for said rail, suspending-cords secured to said guardrail and provided with counterpoise-weights for balancing said rail, said cords passing over pulleys at the top of the car, and guides for said counterpoise-weights, said weightguides located at opposite ends, respectively of said guard-rail and constituting stops to prevent longitudinal movement of said guardrai 2. In an open railway-car, the combination with the side posts thereof, of guide-rods secured thereto at the top and bottom and offset at the ends to leave spaces between said rods and the posts to which they are secured, vertically-movable guide-rails extendseams offset at the ends to leave spaces between said rods and the posts to which they are secured, stops fastened to said guide-rods and posts, intermediate the ends of said guide-rods, vertically-movable guide-rails extending longitudinally along the sides of the car between said guide-rods and posts, and suspendingcords secured to said guard-rails and provided with counterpoise-weights for balancing said rails, said cords passing over pulleys at the top of the car and guides for said counterpoise-weights. t

Witness my hand this 28th day of July, A. D. 1905.

ETTA W. WHEELOCK.

In presence of- P. E. TESGI-IEMACHER, J. E. MALONEY. 

